Star Wars - Dark Times: Rogues
Star Wars - Dark Times: Rogues is the third series written within the Star Wars - Dark Times series created by MasterNoomiZ and its a direct sequel to Star Wars - Dark Times: Shadow Agent. Unlike its prequel series, it will consist of 6 issues, all written by MasterNoomiZ. It picks up two weeks after Shadow Agent. Issues Issue 1: Rogues #1 In Theed an Imperial patrol passed by a market, when a couple of insurgents assaulted the patrol. The Imperial patrol fought back, but the Stormtroopers were mown down one by one. As revealed, the insurgents were lead by Lyanna Olani. When the insurgents cleared the area, Kaleth Horn and R2-Z1 arrive and use shots of adrenals to revive the fallen Troopers who were revealed to have worn heavier armor that managed to resist the blaster bolts. The commander TK-319 thanks him for the advance warning about the attack and Horn invites him to come to the meeting with Governor Sia Mateene. In the office of Governor Mateene, the governor expresses her unenthusiasm about the fact that Imperial Intelligence pulling an operation off on her planet. Horn tells her to take it up with Grand Moff Tarkin, before leaving for the city where he orders TK-319 to set up roadblocks and security checkpoints around the important parts. He then retreats to the private hangar where he meets in a holoconference with Imperial Intelligence Director Gollan and ISB Colonel Yularen who require an update. After informing them of the fifth seemingly succesful victory handed to Olani, Horn says they are at the point that Olani's insurgents are beginning to get fame. Now it is time to set in motion a plan to root them all out, by placing an infiltrator of Imperial Intelligence in her group. Director Gollan agrees and asks for a recommendation. Horn informs them of a young female cadet named Kris Aloona that would be perfect for the job, after her hands on approach on a mission on New Plympto. Colonel Yularen agrees and will send Aloona to Naboo on the next shuttle in. Over the next three days, Aloona and Horn get to know each other and Aloona reveals she knew everything about the mission on Nar Shaddaa and that she doesn't like to be double crossed after this mission is over. Nevertheless they work out a plan and with Horn and TK-319 on oversight, she puts herself out in a pub, even going as far as an attempt to seduce Olani. When she attempts to follow her however, Aloona is cornered by a group of insurgents and revealed that Lyanna knew all along who she was, Before Horn and TK-319 can intervene, Lyanna shoots and kills Aloona, ordering her men to take care of the body. Stunned at first, Horn and TK-319 put in a hunt, but lose her in the traffic. On Coruscant in the meantime Director Gollan and Colonel Yularen attempt to find more evidence of how wide Lyanna Olani's network might be rooted in the Galactic Empire, when they decide to begin examining the last two missions she was involved in, the one on New Plympto and the one on Kashyyyk and begin finding some discrepancies in mission logs and statements. Issue 2: Rogues #2 Kaleth Horn and TK-319 returned to a nearby Imperial Intelligence outpost outside Theed, where they overlooked the plans on what happened in the operation. They discover a intelligence tap built into their Intelligence Network by Lyanna Olani that wasn't noticed until it became active when Kris Aloona arrived on Naboo. They relay this to Director Gollan who orders them to track the tap, which they do and it leads them to an abandoned Clone Intelligence complex from the Clone Wars. Although no longer operational, the complex is now roamed by Medic Droids. Horn and TK-319 manage to infiltrate one of the vents leading to the central command console where they attempt to download all intelligence that was there, including schematics to the Imperial bases on Naboo. TK-319 deduces these might be schematics to buildings of possible attack targets. Horn agrees to the assessment, but that is when the two are discovered by the Medic Droids, who are then revealed to be corrupted by Olani. They knock the two out cold and transport them away from the former Republican base, noticed by Probe Droids. This footage is relayed back to the Imperial Intelligence outpost and they amount an operation to seek and find the agent and the commander. The corrupted Medic Droids bring Horn and TK-319 to a Rebelling outpost controlled by the group led by Olani, but Olani is not there obviously. Horn and the commander are both heavily sedated before being transported further, with decoy transports going into multiple directions, throwing off the Probe Droids. As Imperial Intelligence notes, one of the transports is heading towards a secret access tunnel into Theed, that is directly connected to the Naboo Royal Palace. Governor Mateene reveals she has no authority within the Palace so they have to apply pressure to the current Queen herself. The transport indeed arrivals in the underground structures below the Palace, where Horn and TK-319 are unloaded. In the meantime, on Coruscant, Gollan and Colonel Yularen begin piecing events together and the Imperial Intelligence analysts begin realizing an image of the true spy, revealing that Olani might be nothing more but a pawn of someone who still is within Imperial Intelligence! In the end Olani herself enters a hidden room within the Palace in Theed, where she confronts a prisoner. Issue 3: Rogues #3 Lyanna Olani was inside the cell, talking to none other then Kris Aloona, who was revealed to be alive and well! As revealed Olani sedated her before using a non-lethal laser bolt to seemingly kill her. When asked why Olani kept her alive, Kris heard it was because a very good friend of Olani informed her that Kris might be persuaded to join their side and turn against the Galactic Empire. Olani reveals she knew all about Kris' time at the Vardos Imperial Academy shortly after the rise of the Empire, trained under the tutelage of Admiral Versio and would be noted for her extraordinary investigative talent, however after the Empire bombed her homeworld of Inios to dust, she began feeling betrayed and distrustfull of the Empire. Olani then revealed that she held Kaleth Horn and TK-319 captive in another cell and that if she had to, only one of the three would survive the night. This scares Kris a bit, but Olani asks her what she knows about the operation the Empire is doing here on Naboo and why this place is so important. Kris refuses to talk at first. In the meantime Governor Mateene attempts to outrank the Naboo Royal Guard led by Gregar Typho, but he denies her access to the Palace, even threatening to open fire at the escorting Stormtroopers. Mateene backs down but warns Typho if he continues to resist, they will rain the complete force of the Empire on the Palace. Typho is not to worried, but he does warn Queen Apailana about the threat. In the cells Olani keeps pressing on Kris to find out more, but she is able to resist the pressure, Olani then moves into the next room, where she threatens to kill the other two, but Kris resists and refuses to. Olani tells her she has the death of an Imperial on her then and shoots and kills Horn. This begins to break Kris and Olani begins to put more pressure on. In the meantime on Coruscant, Cassius Gollan and Wullf Yularen eagerly await the results of the reconstruction of how the events of the missions on Nar Shaddaa and Kashyyyk could have conspired in a fashion that would benefit the defectors. One of the operators say that the assumed second defector is on Naboo as well and Gollan orders them to contact the Intelligence outpost to inform them off it, but Yularen tells him to wait on that. Kris finally breaks on Naboo, saying the reason why the Empire is so closely controlling Naboo is because of the Irodonium found in the mountain lands, required for the Walker factories. Olani says thats not all and she is still lying which just cost her her other Imperial, shooting and killing TK-319. Kris breaks down completely saying the other reason is because the Emperor holds this place in high regard, being his birthplace. She then begs Olani to kill her, because the Empire will come after her. That is when the door opens and Kaleth Horn enters the cell, revealing to be alive and well, saying there is no need for that, she is safe now. On Coruscant, Gollan and Yularen find out who the traitor is as the operators put everything together and revealing a clear shot of the traitor ... which indeed turns out to be Kaleth Horn. Issue 4: Rogues #4 A flashback occurs to Kaleth Horn's first mission on Kashyyyk, when Horn traveled to a radio station under control by the Wookiees. It is then revealed it is not the first time he was there as he flips a hidden switch near one of the antenna's, which activated it making it visible on the radar, allowing the Wookiees to blow it up with their artillery. This knocked out a vital part of the Imperial coverage of a beach head through which rebeling Wookiees could escape the massacre of the Empire. This is how Horn relays his missions to Kris Aloona in a secret chamber in the catacombs of the Naboo Royal Palace. Kris asks what made him cross the line from the Empire to the Rebellion. Horn says the Rebellion is far from being a Rebellion yet, there is no Rebel Alliance yet, but they are building something. And he needed to get out after all that happened and fight for the right thing. Kris is not entirely convinced which is when Lyanna Olani shows them holofeed of the cell that Horn was in before. TK-319 is revealed to be alive as well. Kris requested to know why Kaleth was so willing to go over bodies to get what he wanted. Another flashback occurs where Kaleth was in the same room with Cassius Gollan and Wullf Yularen in which they order him to sever all ties to his mission on Nar Shaddaa. Kaleth accepts this and heads over to the room where Bomo Greenbark and Resa Greenbark are waiting. Bomo asks him whether they are heading out on a new mission. Kaleth says their mission is over and raises his weapon, at which Resa starts to scream with the two Stormtroopers watching them. The flashback ends with the doors closing again and in the present Kaleth tells Kris it was the worst mission he had to do, but it had to be done. Kris once again reiterates that he killed his friend and friend's daughter, and Kaleth tells her he'll regret it every day he did so. He tells Kris then its time to start the final phase of his own complete liberation of the Empire. It is why TK-319 is still here and alive. Kaleth then asks Kris if she remembers the incident reported on the Orbital Defense Platform above Nar Shaddaa. Kris does and Kaleth smirks saying, his R2-Z1 may not know it but he unknowingly helped Olani's insurgents infiltrate the Platform. They were there to free a band of smugglers that helped Horn and Olani to free up the Wookiee slaves that were taken from Kashyyyk. Kris begins to realize Kaleth might not be on the bad side this time. Olani re-enters the room, saying its time to start their final phase of liberation. Gassing TK-319, Kaleth places himself back within the cell and TK-319 wakes up half an hour later. Kaleth informs him of a plan he has to escape, but they'll need to overpower the guards. TK-319 and Horn work together to knock out the guards and leave the cell, all overseen by Kris and Olani from a distance. They get back to the old sewer tunnel where they can get out undetected but detectable enough to get noticed by the Empire. Once they reach Imperial lines, Kaleth places a tracker on one of the walkers which activates, while Olani and Kris look at it, saying its time to start the final phase. Issue 5: Rogues #5 As Kaleth Horn and TK-319 returned to the outpost of Imperial Intelligence, Governor Sia Mateene meets with them, demanding a full debrief to see whether they could do anything with it to break into the Naboo Royal Palace. Horn disappoints her, saying he doesn't know where he was kept captive. However the order from Director Cassius Gollan comes through that Horn must either be caught or killed, which was not exactly what Horn and Lyanna Olani had counted on. Horn assumed he would have had more time. Before most of the outpost and the bases around them find out that Horn is a traitor, Horn makes his way to the central command post where he downloads a big amount of data detailing the Empire's operations on Naboo and the major mining spots of Irodonium. Within the files he finds a reference to a certain project named Stardust, but no mention of what it actually was. Nevertheless he downloads it and sets a false trail back to the Palace, which leads to TK-319 and Mateene marching up to the front gate, threatening to blow it up in order to gain access. The downloading of the data doesn't go unnoticed as this comes to the ears of Gollan who contacts Darth Vader about this, who immediately sets course for Naboo in pursuit of his former agent on Kashyyyk. Mateene forces Captain Typho to open up the gates and stream into the Palace, where they are confronted by Queen Apailana who demands her to stand down. Mateene tells her to allow her to search the Palace before more wounded, but the Queen orders the Naboo Royal Guard to open fire on the Stormtroopers, TK-319 and Mateene. In the meantime Captain Typho assists Lyanna Olani and Kris Aloona in evacuating the Palace underground and Olani tells Typho to come with them, but Typho tells them he stands with his Queen. Typho returns to the battlefield in the Palace, while TK-319 recieves word that as of yet, Horn has not been found yet. Kaleth in fact has taken one of the airspeeders stationed in Naboo and broke through the Imperial lines and this sets off another alarm and TK-319 joins in on the chase, as well as R2-Z1 who pilots the Vex Star and fires on Kaleth, assuming it is the Imperial defector and not Kaleth. Not wanting to give him away, Kaleth does not tell Toozee to stand down, but instead leads the pursuing Imperial forces to a small well protected circle. The Vex Star flies overhead as Toozee attempts to contact Horn. TK-319 arrives with a batallion of Stormtroopers and orders Horn to stand down or be killed. Lastly, a flotilla of Venator-class Star Destroyers arrived above Naboo, with Darth Vader disembarking in a LAAT/i Gunship heading for the surface, ready to face Horn. Issue 6: Rogues #6 Kaleth Horn being cornered by the Imperial forces led by TK-319, when Kaleth noticed a black LAAT/i Gunship flying in. Out came Darth Vader and a bunch of elite Stormtroopers from the 501st Legion. Vader takes a look at the position of Horn, who has armed himself with a sniper rifle and attempts to take a shot at Vader, but he dodges it. Vader then Force Chokes Horn away from his position. Vader demands an explanation, but Horn says he will never understand, the Empire doesn't save the Galaxy, they are tyrants. Vader tells him the Empire was created to create a greater galaxy, a unified galaxy and Horn will never understand why now. He then allows TK-319 to finish Horn off, which the commander does, by shooting Horn twice in the chest. Vader and his Stormtroopers then march straight onto the Naboo Royal Palace, where he quickly eliminates any resistance forces from the Palace, fighting his way to the Throne Room, where Queen Apailana and Captain Typho are waiting for him. Vader calls Apailana a disgrace for the Empire and for the Throne she is sitting on, as being the Queen of the home planet of the Emperor. He then Force Chokes her too and kills her by stabbing her with his lightsaber. He then turns to Typho, who is ready to die too, but Vader orders his men to take him away. Vader then leaves the Throne Room and meets with Sia Mateene, telling her to clean up and get the planet in order, next time he will not be this forgiving. He then leaves on the same Gunship he arrived on. TK-319 orders his men to lock down the Vex Star and bring him the droid. As they approach the ship, Lyanna Olani and Kris Aloona fight them back and sneak into the ship. Using the Vex Star's board cannons, they hold them off until the Vex Star can take off. They succeed and fly off, but Toozee remains behind. TK-319 orders his men to take the droid and wipe his memories inside the base. Vader returns to Coruscant where he meets with Emperor Palpatine within the Imperial Palace. The Emperor wishes to know whether or not Stardust is compromised. Vader says he killed the one who found out. Director Gollan then arrives to tell that the entrances to the Irodonium mines have been blown up and cannot be accessed for another year. Palpatine unleashes Force Lightning at him and orders Vader to hunt Olani and Aloona down and kill them. In the aftermath, the Vex Star with Olani and Aloona arrive on Alderaan where they are welcomed by Bail Organa, asking how the mission on Naboo went. They inform him of the details and they head inside. Kris is rather down about the fact that they lost Kaleth, but to her surprise, it is revealed that Kaleth is actually alive and faked his death thanks to a Cortosis armor he wore under his suit. He said he finally feels liberated and now truly can start doing good for the Galaxy. Kris still doesn't completely trust him seeing as he backstabbed friends before, which is when Olani and Kaleth reveal another surprise, a very much alive Bomo and Resa Greenbark! Kaleth explained he faked their deaths by overpowering the Stormtroopers guarding them and then had them dress up like them to get out of the center. Now with all his allies together, Kaleth is ready to face the future! THE END Series Allegiance trilogy Defector - Shadow Agent - Rogues Shadow Rebellion Infiltrator - The Dark Reach - The Gathering